[OPLINTECH] Open Office Software

[David Popeck]

On 1/23/08, Shane Ian Hoffman <shoffman at pickawaylib.org> wrote:
> I'll try to be brief and throw out some discussion points:
>
> 1: IT folks, myself included, seem to sometimes forget that just because we
> can pick up a new program easily doesn't mean that someone needs Office
> skills for a new job or promotion or who is just trying to keep up with
> their kids will get even those minute differences.  They need to learn on
> what they'll be using.
>
> 2: If I get hit by a truck, how tough is it going to be for my employer to
> find a replacement who can support all of these "off brand" items.  There's
> a reason things are called "Industry Standard".
>
> 3: If you put it on your PCs, you need to be willing to support it.  I'd be
> willing to give some latitude if you put out some highly specialized
> software, but not so much for commonly used products.  I don't want to
> support more than one product for a given task.  It's not an efficient use
> of my time.
>
> 4: It's not that expensive to put Office on a PC.  You can get the copy of
> office with the most features for $60.  I think that through Tech Soup, if
> you can get through their registration process, for about $20.
>
> This is why I would have a hard time justifying putting a product out for
> public use that just doesn't have the market share.


Some interesting points to consider.

Your first talking point is certainly always a factor, whether it
involves open source applications or updates to "standard bearers." I
use Open Office or variants because I utilize different computing
environments and do not want to have different programs for Windows,
OS X and Linux. Open Office fits the bill. When I offered courses I
used either Microsoft Office or Open Office for demonstration
purposes, explaining pertinent differences if they arose in the
particular course. For most users the difference is nominal since they
will utilize only a small percentage of the program's features. I base
that opinion on supporting staff and patrons and teaching classes for
more than 10 years.

I hope you manage to avoid that mythical truck of destiny, but rest
assured that since support for any product is usually developed
in-house, you need not worry about Open Office support. In my opinion,
the initial learning curve for Open Office is not as high as that for
Office 2007 for new users. Staff users can pick it up quickly.

I agree with the third point wholeheartedly. That consideration should
be a prime one when placing software on the desktops of staff or
patrons. However supporting more than one product is something that I
can live with since it permits user choice with little extra effort on
my part. We have Mac users that now come to print their NeoOffice
documents. Open Office is simply not that difficult to support. The
same basic shortcuts still work on Open Office and Office 2007 that
worked on my beloved Professional Write 5' floppy (a program that
never, ever crashed on my powerful 8Mhz Amstrad). Well perhaps the
Ctrl-Y to grab vertical columns is not supported anymore. Press the
Alt key in Office 1007, you'll be glad you did.

Expense is a consideration to me. Not our library paying the Tech
Soupian low-buck price tag, but savings to our patrons. Why not give
them an option to be able to work for free at home and on different
platforms? The old FUD argument was primarily about compatibility. We
have had many users that bring in files because they cannot open the
docx extension files. We explain to them about downloading the patch
at home while printing their document. I have used Open Office for
years and I cannot remember the last time I was not able to open a
document made on Microsoft Office. Interestingly no one has sent me a
docx file at work or home. Just lucky I guess...

Checking the crosswalk during lunch today.

-- 
David Popeck
Lakewood Public Library
Electronic Services, Supervisor
216-226-8275, ext. 126